Dan Hanson

Dan Hanson is a Senior Advisor at Mobility Ventures, with over 30 years of experience in the management of innovation, governmental policy development, finance, investment banking and public-private partnerships. His professional experience has included technology venture creation; investment portfolio management and risk management; capital raise through the equity, bond, and securitization markets; and public policy development for many types of government agencies.

For the past 20 years, Dan has focused on creating novel solutions to complex societal challenges, commercializing new technologies, and building research and development infrastructure in collaboration with universities, corporations, and other centers of innovation. Mr. Hanson has a keen interest in leveraging art, science, and education infrastructure to promote economic development in regional economies. He helps build economic engines by forging partnerships among business, government, and nongovernmental organizations. These partnerships often are a mix of organizations operating on a local, national, and international level.

Mr. Hanson’s efforts are realized through a combination of business and volunteer activities. For example, he volunteers on the board of directors of several U.S. state and local community organizations. These organizations include the State of Texas Product Development and Small Business Incubator Board, which manages a US $45 million public investment fund for supporting companies in Texas that commercialize emerging technologies. Dan was a founding board member and served as the chairman of the Finance Committee of the Board. In addition, Mr. Hanson led a team that created the North Texas Enterprise Center (NTEC), a business incubator focused on medical technology. NTEC was launched in 2001, and later grew into a larger, wholly owned facility.  In March of 2017, NTEC was acquired by Launch Pad City and it will be expanded to include additional startup and corporate services.

Mr. Hanson also served on the advisory board of the 100 Year Starship Initiative (100YSS). The goal of this organization is to make the capability of human travel beyond our solar system a reality within the next 100 years. Dan was integral in creating the Initiative’s commercialization focus and serving in leadership roles during the 100 YSS’ Annual Symposium. By viewing technology development through the lens of long-term space travel and the constraints it creates, disruptive technologies for novel sustainable products can be imagined and built. In the past, for example, space exploration has led to global positioning systems (GPS), remote sensing for water, minerals, and crop management; high-temperature, light-weight materials; revolutionary medical procedures and equipment; and algorithms used to handle huge, complex data sets; physiological monitoring and miniaturization; atmospheric and ecological monitoring; and insight into our planet’s geological history and future. In March of 2015, Dan addressed members of the European Academy of Sciences (Academia Europaea) in Brussels to describe the work of the 100 YSS and outline opportunities for research projects aligned with interstellar travel.

Dan has also worked with entrepreneurs across the globe through programs offered by the University of Texas’ Global Commercialization Group (GCG).  The GCG facilitates the growth and development of technology-based businesses in a variety of regions worldwide. GCG programs simultaneously provide commercialization know-how to local partner organizations while proactively moving science and innovation from the region into international markets. Through this program, Mr. Hanson taught and mentored innovators in Chile, India, Hungary, South Africa and the United States.

Mr. Hanson is noted for his outstanding analytical and commercial skills and for his commitment to achieving equitable outcomes of government policy and program initiatives across communities. Dan’s academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Industrial Relations from the University of the Oregon and a Master of Science in City and Regional Planning from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.